As Lee Daniels’ The Butler has made a box office killing and surprised many critics, Lee Daniels‘ career (pardon me) is getting a boost much-needed after that debacle we know as The Paperboy. Some fresh, additional clout surely on his side, the filmmaker’s locking his sights on a project that’s kicked around for nearly ten years: Get It While You Can, a Janis Joplin biopic that sparked back to life when, this past October, he and Amy Adams began circling the director’s chair and lead, iconic role, respectively. (No matter how much you might prefer to see those positions switched, otherwise.)
When Daniels revealed to THR that it was up next, the outlet made sure to note that the actress’ typical onscreen demeanor doesn’t quite match the rough-and-tumble, gravelly appearance of Joplin — to which he so elegantly replied, “She can sing her ass off!” Notwithstanding the fact that actors shouldn’t be pigeonholed into a familiar position and, instead, allowed to actually grow outward through their work — I wouldn’t consider The Master‘s Peggy Dodd and Man of Steel‘s Lois Lane to be some sort of spiritual cousins, though that would’ve undoubtedly helped the latter — it’d be nice to see Adams jump toward something altogether unexpected, still. Anyone else curious about her impersonation?
And, speaking as someone who not only somewhat liked The Butler but, too, thought its approach to historical representation (i.e. in opposition to most biopics) was worth chewing on, the match of director and material, scripted by husband-wife pairing Ron Terry and Theresa Kounin-Terry, isn’t objectionable. (Let’s just hope it doesn’t deter up-and-comer Sean Durkin from getting his own tale off the ground.) After that? The long-planned musical adaptation Miss Saigon and, even, a horror film. Lee Daniels, never willing to stick with one thing for too long.
Is Janis Joplin proper material for the Butler helmer, and does Adams make a potential fit?